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In Limbo

Published on October 8, 2012October 8, 2012 by Our Humble Abode15 Comments

An alternate title could be Over Our Heads. Yesterday, we were playing in the trees. Cutting one down. Specifically the biggest tree on our property, the locust seen below.

In a way, we’re sad to see if go. We’re fans of trees, having planted 18 at our first house. Before you start hating me for cutting down a mature tree, listen to the reasons. One, the tree is too close to the house; about 10 feet. Two, this tree is big, and hasn’t reached full size. And three, the tree’s roots are too high up, so excavating would have killed the tree. Because the tree is so close to the house and we can’t get a lift up there, it was a bit tricky to cut down. Having a lift would mean starting from the top, cutting small pieces off at a time. Ben has cut down about 20 large trees at the apartment complex he works for without any problems. This smaller (compared to the large cottonwood trees at his work) should be easy enough.

The boys and I watched from the house as Ben notched out the first limb, tied a rope to it, and cut through while Handy Sammy pulled to make sure it landed safely.

Easy and worked like a charm. But that was the first branch. The one furthest away from the house. See that large center branch? It is a beast. The guys assumed it would be easy because the first one went so well. Following the same process, they started working on the biggest branch. And then it got complicated. The branch was heavy and naturally wanted to fall toward the house, despite the notch Ben cut. In fact, it started pinching the chain saw. Luckily, Ben’s tree cutting experience warned him this could get ugly. So he stopped cutting and left the chain saw in place, effectively preventing the branch from falling on the house.

Any time Ben’s working on something like this, I’m a nervous, anxious mess. First and foremost, I’m concerned for his safety. This time I worried about the house, too. Not knowing exactly what was going on, I asked if I could help. Ben ~~yelled at~~ told me to get more rope. That’s when I knew this was serious and wasn’t going as planned. Kind of how you know a three a.m. call isn’t going to be good news. And I thought we were in over our heads.

I found tow straps in the truck. Sam and I looped the straps around our bodies, pulling on the limb with all our weight. Ben tied the saw to another branch (so it wouldn’t fall to the ground or on him) and pushed the branch while praying for it to fall the right way. After several extremely tense (both physically and mentally) minutes, we got the branch down, safely in the yard. Whew, what a moment of relief. I may have gotten misty eyed knowing everything was okay. Of course I have no pictures of this, but you can see that branch on the ground in the picture below.

The last two limbs went just as smoothly as the first. And then time for clean up. Ben cut the limbs in manageable, fire-place sized pieces. Can I add he looked mighty fine while doing so? Because he did, safety glasses and all.

Smaller branches are in the yard waste bin, ready for pick up.

Between cutting the tree, Ben was loading more dirt for Craigslisters to haul away. Two birds, one stone. We’ve still got the stump to deal with. The plan is to dig out a little more around the base using the bobcat, then pull on it to hopefully get the majority of the roots.

So that’s our (not so) little tree cutting adventure. Definitely stressful, but we’re glad to be done.

How was your weekend? What did you do? Have you cut down a tree? Did it go smoothly? Or with a little bump in the road?

Gimme a Giveaway Winner: Jamie Lundberg & Craft Challenge

Published on October 5, 2012October 8, 2012 by Our Humble Abode3 Comments

TGIF. I’m ready to spend more time with Ben and hopefully eat his home-made ‘daddy waffles’ as the boys call them. Friday also means we’re wrapping up the Jamie Lundberg giveaway.

Carly, good luck choosing what to spend your $25 credit on, because you’re the winner.

And now, I’m issuing the first ever Our Humble A{Bowe}d Craft Challenge. That’s right, I’m challenging you to create something from these boring house hold supplies.

1. Scrap paper: Magazines/catalogs/newspaper/decorative/post it notes

2. Wire: Twist ties/floral wire

3. String: Thread/yarn/twine even fabric scraps smaller than 6 inches

4. Cardboard tubes: Toilet paper/paper towels/mailing tubes

5. Paint: Spray/acrylic/watercolors

6. Clothes pins: Any size, any color

7. Empty containers: Soup cans/soda cans/glass jars/plastic jugs

8. Nails: Finishing nails/framing nails/whatever size

Not pictured:

9. Popsicle sticks: Used or new

10. Cork: Rolls/squares/wine corks

And a few simple rules:

1. Make anything your heart desires. Something functional, decorative, art, seasonal, Halloween.

2. Use at least two items from the list.

3. Glues and other adhesives can be used. Whatever you need to do to hold it together is fine. Sewing, pinning, nailing, taping, it’s all good.

4. Only one non list item may be used. The point is to test creativity and come up with something new.

Who’s with me? If you’re in, let’s take 10 days to work on our items, and meet back here on Monday the 15th to share. Hopefully I can figure out how to make a link party work between now and then. In the words of Tim Gunn, make it work.

Pillow Palooza

Published on October 4, 2012October 8, 2012 by Our Humble Abode24 Comments

Up until yesterday, we still had very summery weather. I’m a little late, but I’ve started decorating for fall. Usually I don’t go all out on seasonal decorating, but I like to switch up a few things. I started with new fall colored pillows for the couch. Thus, pillow palooza was born.

Red doesn’t often make an appearance in our house. However, I can’t get enough coral lately. Spurred by a towel I bought for the bathroom, I figured dark coral and gray could replace red nicely.

I happened to have half a yard of light gray duck cloth in my stash, so I cut it to an 18 inch square piece. Wanting a simple design, I taped off two-inch wide random stripes. Then I mixed up a batch of dark coral using apple red, orange, and a dose of pale pink. Painting went quickly, covering in one coat.

Peeling off the tape is such a fun moment. A few areas of bleed through, but nothing terrible. Definitely fun color.

For something even more fall-ish, I had the idea to add a leaf design to a pillow. Preferably, I would have used fabric for the leaves, but I had my heart set on metallic. Sadly, our little fabric stores don’t carry much in the good-looking metallic department. Again, I turned to craft paint, this time in a metallic copper finish. Freehand leaves appear to fall and settle at the bottom.

Later, I went back and added a few metallic gold leaves, too. Yellow is a great fall color, so I kept the fun Target pillow.

For the other side of the couch, I started dip dyed a piece of natural colored canvas in a tangerine dye bath. Just a simple dip and wiggling to get an ombre-ish pillow.

To incorporate orange, yellow, and gray to temper the bright colors, I had my heart set on a triangle pattern pillow. I cut a 7 inch equilateral triangle template from card stock, then traced it to scrap fabric left over from other projects.

Pinning the pieces together to create a line of triangles.

After completing the strips, I sewed them to each other. Randomly placed colors made a fun mix.

Of course the yellow arrow pillow fit in, so it’s still around.

So that’s our fall-ified couch. Nothing ground breaking, but I’m happy with a change. Both the pillows and weather.

What have you been changing up? New pillows? A fall mantle? How do you incorporate fall colors in your home?

File it Away

Published on October 3, 2012October 8, 2012 by Our Humble Abode16 Comments

This past weekend, we didn’t work much on our to do list. That’s not to say we didn’t work. We just didn’t work on noticeable, blog worthy projects. Instead, we loaded up some of the dirt pile Craigslist responders wanted. Ben worked a little more on digging out areas and leveling out the back yard. We cleaned, organized, Ben baked, and I spray painted a few things. Yesterday you saw one of those things, faux billy buttons. While organizing my office, I pulled out an empty, ugly brown file drawer just like this one.

I bought at the thrift store, oh, two years ago and never used. It was five bucks and I figured I could use it for something. Well, I figured out that something. For the last few months, I’ve been storing the boys’ wet bath toys in a cheap metal bucket on the vanity shelf. I didn’t like that the ugly toys were left in the open. So I checked to see if the toys would fit in the drawer. They did, so I dug around my stash of spray paint in the laundry room, coming out with a can of primer and another can of metallic silver paint. A quick scrub with a rag, a light coat of primer, two coats of silver, and a few hours to cure in the sunlight, I brought it inside.

To prevent rusting of the inside, I popped in a cheapie plastic bin before loading the toys in.

That creepy eye belongs to Woody from Toy Story. You’re welcome. Toys are still easy to get at sitting on the bottom shelf (next to a basket for toilet paper and soap), but out of sight.

As you can see, the vanity isn’t finished.

We still have to build the false fronts, then repaint the whole vanity. I should probably dust it sometime, too.

Please tell me you buy things from thrift stores and don’t use them for months or years. Where/how do you store bath toys?

P.S. You’ve gotta love Montana weather. This summer has been hotter and drier than most, with no measurable precipitation in September. We’re ready for a change. Yesterday was clear, sunny skies with near 80 degree temps. Last night, Montana treated us to a beautiful sunset.

This morning started with rain and quickly turned to snow.

Big, slow falling flakes, too. I feel like a kid again. Our first snow day. Welcome.

Vincent told Everett, “Look at the snow on the deck. It’s not watching where it’s falling.” That’s right, snow does not discriminate.

I had plans for today, but maybe I’ll sit back, relax, watch a movie with the boys, and drink hot chocolate. Yes, that sounds perfect.

Craspedia, Billy Buttons, Whatever

Published on October 2, 2012October 8, 2012 by Our Humble Abode17 Comments

I’m sure you know those cute yellow flower balls I’m talking about. They’re everywhere lately, and for good reason. Except in the state of Montana. Seriously, I have yet to see these guys anywhere.

{photo via Flored Del Sol}

I’ve got plenty of cute vases. Though most, okay, all, are empty. While decorating the entertainment center for fall, I decided that had to change. A simple, modern shape and bright color would be perfect. Billy buttons, that’s what I needed. So I set out to make my own. I’ll let you judge how realistic/cute they are after the tutorial.

Using small foam balls (from Dollar Tree), green floral wire, paper clips (not pictured), and sunny yellow spray paint, I got to work.

First I skewered each ball with a straightened paper clip and stuck it in a piece of scrap foam. If you don’t have foam, you could stick these in a pile of small rocks or even hold at the end. Then I spritzed each sphere with the yellow paint and let it dry.

Once the balls dried, I cut pieces of floral wire to length and pushed the balls on. Voila, faux billy buttons.

Looking back at the thicker painted yellow paper clips, I might like that better. But I’m happy with my two dollar ‘flowers.’ Ben thinks they look like cheese balls stuck on wire.